Michael Smith (born 18 September 1990) is an English professional darts player. Nicknamed "Bully Boy", he plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked No. 2 in the world. He is a former world champion, having won the 2023 World Championship.
PDC World Darts champion 2023
Smith was the 2013 PDC Under-21 World Champion and has since won 17 titles on the PDC Pro Tour. He won his first PDC major title at the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts, having previously been a runner-up at the World Championship (2019 and 2022), the Premier League (2018), the World Matchplay (2019), the European Championship (2022), the UK Open (2022), The Masters (2020), and the World Series Finals (2018).
Early life
p>Michael Smith was born on 18 September 1990 to parents Ian and Sandra, who run a pub in St Helens. Smith lived in Cherry Tree Drive, Parr, St Helens throughout his childhood and attended St Cuthbert's High School nearby. He played rugby in his youth but when he was 15, he fell off his bike on the way to school and broke his hip; this required him to use crutches for 16 weeks and ruled him out of playing rugby.[3] Having watched his father play darts, Smith began to play, throwing his first 180 while on crutches. After leaving school, he took a joinery course at college, but he decided to drop out with one exam remaining to play in a darts tournament instead, a decision that he has described as the best of his life. He was a regular winner of local darts events and made his debut in a PDC major at the 2009 UK Open where he lost 6–5 to Dave Ladley in the first round.
